The Richard
Pryor Show
September 13, 1977 - October 20, 1977 by Billy Ingram

Listen
to Richard Pryor
as the first black president
during a press conference
in this audio clip.

From the
first episode of
'The Richard Pryor Show' in 1977.

In 1970,
after several successful years as a nightclub comedian
and frequent 'Ed Sullivan Show' guest, Richard Pryor grew
tired of doing what he called "white bread
humor" and walked off the stage during a show at the
Alladin Hotel in Las Vegas and away from a career that
had been growing for several years. The comic moved to
Berkeley, California where he discovered the writings of
Malcolm X and began developing edgier material. He also
developed a cocaine habit. "I'd take the dope and
pretend I was Miles Davis. But I couldn't have been a
junkie because when I wanted to stop I stopped on a
dime." (We all know that didn't turn out to
be true!)

A string
of hit movies in the mid-Seventies ('Silver Streak',
'Greased Lightning') made Richard Pryor a big star. On
May 5, 1977 Pryor hosted a brilliant special on NBC
featuring guests LaWanda Page, John Belushi, The Pips
(who performed a medley of their hits without any lead
vocals) and a powerful dramatic performance by poet Maya
Angelou. Pryor plays his drunk "Willie"
character, "Iddi Amin Dada", and a money
grubbing television evangelist "Reverend James L.
White" who gets the phones ringing off the hook when
he announces he's collecting money for a 'back to Africa'
campaign.

The
segment with Maya Angelou is, in my opinion, one of the
most profound moments in television history. Starting out
as a comedy skit with "Willie" getting into a
drunken brawl in a bar, the piece suddenly takes a
harrowing (and enlightening) turn when Willie gets home
to his wife (Angelou). It's something you have to see for
yourself, truly one of those moments that remind you of
the power that television can have.

The
special was a critical and ratings smash. Richard Pryor's
appearances on 'Saturday Night' Live over the last few
years had been numeric gold for the network as well, so
programmers started thinking the unthinkable - giving the
most militant and sexually-suggestive comedian of the
Seventies his own weekly television series.

The
network only gave the star a ten-week contract, in part
because there hadn't been a successful variety show
launched in half a decade. For reasons only a network
executive could divine, 'The Richard Pryor Show' was
scheduled on Tuesday nights at 8:00 pm, opposite 'Happy
Days' and 'LaVerne and Shirley'. Why would network
executives put their most controversial and adult star on
during the newly designated 'Family Hour' at 8:00 when
they specifically promised the star that his show
wouldn't start before 9:00pm? You tell me.

This
move caused Richard Pryor to have second thoughts about
doing a series right from the start and he reportedly
broke down in an early writer's meeting, confessing:
"I bit off more than I can chew" Reduced to
tears, the comedian told his new staff, "I don't want
to be on TV. I'm in a trap. I can't do this." The
writers tried to convince him that he could do something
special on television, and labored for days trying to
convince the comedian to change his mind and go forward
with the show. Finally Pryor relented, but only to do
four shows, not the ten that he originally signed for.

A great
roster of supporting players was assembled for the
variety hour: Sandra Bernhardt, Robin Williams, Marsha
Warfeild, Victor DeLapp, Jimmy Martinez, Tim Reid, Paul
Mooney, Argus Hamilton and 'Detroit' John Witherspoon.
There would be no major guest-stars. The show was
produced by John Moffitt and Rocco Urbisci for Burt
Sugarman Productions.

Battles
with the network censors started as soon as the show went
into production. Pryor was shocked to find out that he
wouldn't be given free rein to do whatever he wanted
after signing a lucrative contract with the network.
"It's bullshit - there's no other word for it - and
lots of it. I think they hire people, about six thousand
of them, to do nothing but mess with people." The
frustrated star told Ebony Magazine at the time,
"The problem with censors is that they don't like
for people to communicate. I think it is on purpose and
very political. A lot of silly stuff went down about
anything I tried to do. It was just frustrating."

To spoof
the situation he found himself in, Richard Pryor appeared
at the top of his first show with a statement about how
he will never be compromised. When the camera pulls back,
you see he is naked (actually wearing a bodystocking) and
his dick is missing. NBC ordered the scene removed, so it
ran instead on the evening news on all three networks.
More people saw that 'censored' clip on the news than
ever saw the show itself. Another skit on the first episode that caused
some flack had Pryor as a flamboyant rock singer who
machine guns his all-white audience to death.

One of
the most revealing moments of the series came during the
fourth show. Part of the episode was done like a 'roast'.
Only there were no celebrities to roast the host, just
the supporting cast. It was a long, tense television
moment as the regulars either kissed the host's ass or
burnt their bridges. Pryor just looked down much of the
time, acting like he was writing something down, rarely
looking up or sincerely laughing. This did not appear to
be a happy group.

After
the four episodes were filmed, neither the star or the
network was willing to continue - 'The Richard Pryor
Show' was one of the lowest-rated shows of that year.
'Happy Days' and 'LaVerne and Shirley' on the other hand,
were the number one and two rated shows in 1977. They
were unbeatable and Richard Pryor failed to lure viewers
away from the comfortable Cunninghams.

NBC and
Richard Pryor announced that the remainder of the
contract would be made up of a series of six specials to
be broadcast over the next three years. Pryor promised,
"I'm going to do them the way I want and then they
can kiss my behind." The specials were never filmed.

Was
Richard Pryor bitter about his television 'career'? No,
not at all: "One week of truth on TV could just
straighten out everything. One hundred and twenty-seven
million people watch television every night; that's why
they use it to sell stuff. They've misused it a long time
so now it's just a business, that's all. They're not
going to write shows about how to revolutionize America.
The top rated shows are for retarded people."